Saturday, 29 October 2011

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip killed two more fighters from the Islamic Jihad's armed wing on Saturday evening, after earlier airstrikes on the coastal enclave had killed five members from the group.

Medical spokesman in Gaza Adham Abu Salmiya said that two fighters from the al-Quds Brigades were killed in the strike on Rafah, south Gaza. more

GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for the first time on Saturday, signaling a shift in Cairo's posture toward the Palestinian Islamists since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

A delegation led by deputy Brotherhood chief Goma Amin met Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in celebration of a major prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel brokered by Egypt last week.

"We came to participate in the joy at the release of brothers. We are proud of them," Amin told reporters. "Resistance proved itself."

The Brotherhood, a political party which, like Hamas, regards relations with Israel as anathema, had been curbed by the US-aligned Mubarak. He was ousted by a popular revolt in February. more

Al-Quds brigades said in a statement received by Ma’an that one of their military sites in Rafah was attacked and a number of fighters were killed and injured.

Brigades' spokesman Abu Ahmad said the Israeli strike is one of the most brutal attacks on the Palestinian resistance since April. A spate of rockets and airstrikes on Gaza in April killed at least 18 people before factions agreed a ceasefire. More

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will be holding a vote on Monday on the Palestinian request to become a full member. The move is part of the Palestinian demands of international recognition as a state.

On October 6th, The Executive Council of the UNESCO decided to allow the 193 member states to vote on the Palestinian application.

The decision angered Tel Aviv and the United States, while the White House is threatening to cut its funding to the organization. The U.S. provides %22 of all UNESCO funding. more